


Mac's Day Out

by adrianicsea



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: 12x06, Gen, hero or hate crime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-09-23 03:07:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9638327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adrianicsea/pseuds/adrianicsea
Summary: With $14 to his name after paying arbitration fees, Mac celebrates his first full day out of the closet.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is just something quick and sweet that I thought about and wanted to write! I still can't believe last night was real, you guys.

Mac wakes up the next morning to find that he's the only one still in bed; Dee, Dennis, and Old Black Man have all already awoken, it seems. It was nice of them to let Mac sleep in, he thinks. Usually Dee kicks him awake (out of spite or just because she flails in her sleep, Mac has never been sure).

He rolls out of bed and runs a hand through his floppy hair, yawning as he makes his way into the kitchen. Dennis is sitting at the table with an empty plate in front of him. No crumbs, though, which means he probably isn't eating again. Mac's mouth twists to the side in some small concern at this development. Dee is at the stove, attempting to cook, but judging by the smell, it's going just as well as it always does--which is to say, not well at all.

With a small grunt of acknowledgement and a nod in the twins' directions, Mac makes his way into the kitchen and rifles through the cabinets for the Pop Tarts. Once he finds one, he quickly unwraps it and plunks it in the toaster, hovering over it defensively so Dee doesn't get any ideas.

"Good morning to you too, asshole," Dee snarks, but there's no real heat in it yet; it takes her a couple hours to really get going.

Dennis turns in his chair, resting one elbow on the back of it as he looks at Dee and Mac.

"So how was your first day out?" Dennis asks, and Mac can't tell what his tone of voice is saying. He just shrugs and quickly snags his Pop Tart from the toaster, hissing quietly as he rushes to drop it on a plate.

"It was okay," Mac says nonchalantly as he comes around to sit at the table across from Dennis. "I didn't really do anything. Dropped off the bike at the bar, walked around town, stopped by the Rainbow last night..."

Dennis actually does smile at that, albeit just for a moment.

"Have fun?"

Mac nods, a little shy, as he takes a bite of his Pop Tart.

"Good," Dennis says. Then his smile turns into that awful, almost-sadistic grin that Mac's grown so familiar with.

"I hope you didn't spend too much money. You're paying for the arbitration fees."

Mac drops his Pop Tart.

"Huh?"

* * *

 

Two hours and one screaming match later, Mac agrees to pay the arbitration fees, leaving him with $14 to his name.

So much for Gay Rich Mac.

He quickly gets dressed and leaves the apartment, foregoing Paddy's in favor of wandering the streets by himself to sulk. If anyone asks, he's still enjoying his first day out of the closet. It hasn't been twenty-four hours yet, after all.

Mac's wanderings take him through Logan Circle (he pauses at the fountain, remembering the time Frank pissed in it), past what used to be his mom's house (the building has been replaced, but it looks too clean and empty now), and finally to Market Street.

Here, Mac takes his time, walking slowly up and down the street as he examines the shop windows. Some small part of him, he admits, is pissed off that he didn't spend all of his money yesterday. Gay Rich Mac is still there in the back of his head, telling him to use what's left of his coming out money to buy something nice for himself.

Still, what's nice for the price of $14? Mac has no idea.

He supposes he could buy some champagne or some kind of fancy alcohol to celebrate, but champagne is pussy shit and he has unlimited free beer at the bar anyways. He could go to the strip club, but if Mac's being honest, he's wasted enough singles there in the past couple years, closeted or no.

Mac is still mulling over his options when, suddenly, he sees something in a store window that catches his eye.

For a long moment, he just stands there on the street, staring at it intently. It's so simple, but something about it still kind of scares Mac--he feels like he shouldn't be looking at it. He shouldn't be wanting it.

But then Mac remembers that he's out of the closet now.

It's something nice. And how expensive could it really be?

Mac walks into the store, the door's bell ringing as he opens it.

* * *

At the end of the day, Mac comes back to the apartment to find that, once again, he's the last one to arrive. This time, Dennis and Dee are on the couch, sitting on opposite ends of it and watching TV.

"Well, look who's back." Dennis turns to glare at him. "Where the hell have you been all day?"

Mac shrugs.

"Out," he says. He's sort of hoping for a laugh--that was a really good joke--but Dee just groans and rolls her eyes, while Dennis replies, "Yeah, no shit."

"You can't just stop going to work because you're gay now, Mac!" Dee cries.

"I know that!" he snaps back indignantly. "I was just--"

Mac pauses, sighing to collect himself.

"If you must know, I was spending my scratchcard money."

Both of them laugh at that.

"On _what?!_ " Dennis demands. "It was fourteen dollars, Mac! What could you have _possibly_ found for _fourteen dollars?"_

"I'll show you, asshole!"

Mac continues grumbling to himself as he pulls it out of his back pocket. It's packaged so tiny, folded into a little triangle and covered in plastic.

After tearing the plastic off and tossing it unceremoniously to the floor, Mac shakes out the triangle until it's completely unfurled. Finally, a big fabric rainbow stretches out in his arms, fluttering in the slight breeze of Dee's air conditioner and just barely brushing the rug.

Mac just stares at Dee and Dennis, waiting for one of them to react.

They don't. At least, not the way Mac expects them to.

"Mac, is that a pride flag?" Dennis asks, his voice surprisingly soft.

"No, it's the Russian flag," Mac deadpans. "What the fuck else would it be?"

"Fuck you," Dennis retorts, but there's still no anger in it.

After an uncharacteristically long silence, Dee says, "Okay. Well... Do you wanna hang it up?"

Mac nods, ducking his head just a little bit.

"Yeah. I do."

* * *

They put it on the wall in the living room, just behind the TV. It's the first thing you see when you walk into the apartment.

 

 


End file.
